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FOR INVESTORS, ACCELERATORS AND INCUBATORS

Legal foundations for the companies you back

Give your startups a regulated solicitor at startup prices. A subscription that puts a solicitor on hand, or fixed-fee packages for a defined job, at a preferred rate for your portfolio or cohort.

tick SRA-regulated solicitors tick Built for early-stage companies tick Preferred rates for your portfolio
4.8 on Google
  • ComplyCube
  • Giles
  • Athona
  • Virgin
  • Kaikaku
  • City Contractors
  • Osmo
  • Global Tech
  • Simply smarter
  • Uptown
  • Vitox
  • LSET
  • Restoreo
  • One
  • Additional
  • Bathlettings
  • Beagle
  • Bio
  • Pantheon Properties
  • Agentric AI

Dr Jackie Nagtegaal

Co-Founder & Director

In year one, legal feels like a luxury. We make it affordable, so founders can build properly from the start instead of putting it off.

Dr Jackie Nagtegaal

Co-Founder & Director

WHY IT MATTERS

Legal foundations that match their ambition

The companies that move fastest are the ones whose legal groundwork was done properly: a clean cap table, IP owned by the company, founder arrangements written down. When the acquisition offer or the major contract arrives, diligence is quick and the momentum holds.

Lawyerly takes care of the legal side at prices a founder can plan around, so the foundations get done properly from the start. Legal stops being the thing that gets put off, and becomes something the company can lean on.

FIXED-FEE PACKAGES

Milestone packages at a fixed price

A set scope at a fixed price, with no ongoing commitment, reviewed or drafted by a regulated solicitor. Each pack is offered as a review of documents the company already holds, or drafted from scratch. Subscribe within nine months of completing a pack and 10 to 30 per cent of the fee is credited against the first year.

See what each package covers
  • Starting out

    Get incorporated

    Setting up the company and securing ownership on a proper legal footing.

    From £995 £995 review, £1,295 from scratch
    • Company formation and share structure
    • Founder articles and governance
    • Core commercial documents
  • Trading and hiring

    Ready to trade

    The contracts and policies you need once you are selling and building a team.

    From £1,495 £1,495 review, £1,795 from scratch
    • Website terms and privacy pack
    • Key commercial agreements: customer, supplier, consultancy
    • First employment agreement and handbook
  • Investment-ready

    Ready to raise

    The governance, cap table clarity and founder protection investors expect to see.

    From £1,895 £1,895 review, £2,595 from scratch
    • Shareholders' agreement
    • Founders' IP assignment pack
    • Cap table and round-ready documents

Fees exclude VAT and are agreed in writing before work starts. Preferred rates for portfolio and cohort companies are agreed with you.

WORKING TOGETHER

Built into how you support founders

How closely you work with us is your decision. Some investors simply point founders our way; others make Lawyerly part of the programme or the deal. Either way the engagement is between Lawyerly and the company, and founders deal with their solicitor directly. You are never in the middle of the work, the billing or the advice.

  • Angel investors and syndicates

    Point portfolio companies our way when legal readiness matters, usually around a round. Some leave it as a recommendation; others make it part of the deal. Each company takes the subscription or a one-off package, whichever fits.

  • Venture funds and family offices

    Offer Lawyerly as a portfolio service, at a preferred rate for every company you back, or fund it as part of the investment. We can report on take-up across the portfolio, and nothing else: the advice stays between the company and its solicitor.

  • Incubators and accelerators

    Make Lawyerly part of the cohort offer, with a preferred rate for every company in the programme. We can run legal sessions or office hours for your cohorts, under your brand or ours.

HOW IT WORKS

From introduction to a well-papered company

Four steps, and only the second one is yours.

We agree the arrangement

Before anything is offered we agree the shape with you and put it in writing: the preferred rate for your companies, how introductions are recognised, and how the arrangement is disclosed, as the SRA Code requires.

You point a company our way

A recommendation at the right moment, a line in the deal, or a standing place in your programme. Whichever it is, that is the whole of your part.

The company signs up

We have the conversation with the founders, agree the plan or package that fits, and sign them up on the Client Hub. Identity checks take minutes, and they are matched with a named solicitor. The engagement is between Lawyerly and the company.

It grows with the same solicitor

From a first package to the subscription, from the seed round to the exit. The solicitor who put the foundations in place stays with the company, and nothing resets along the way.

THE LONG VIEW

From day one to exit

The companies you back do not stay early-stage. They raise again, they acquire, and eventually some of them are acquired. The same solicitor who put the foundations in place can see the company through each stage, on the same fixed-fee principle.

01

Get incorporated

The company set up, shares issued, founder agreements and IP assignments in place. A fixed-fee package, or the first months of a subscription.

02

Ready to trade

Customer and supplier contracts, website and platform terms, privacy documentation and the first employment contracts.

03

Ready to raise

Articles, cap table clarity, investment documents drafted with SEIS and EIS rounds in mind, and the governance investors expect to see.

04

A solicitor on hand

Unlimited day-to-day advice on the subscription, moving up the plans as turnover grows, with the same solicitor and history.

05

Buying, selling or being acquired

Phased, fixed-fee support for the transaction, so a founder facing the biggest deal of their life knows what the legal work costs before it starts.

The same solicitor throughout

OUR LEGAL SERVICES

What your startups get

Legal support across the business, from one named solicitor.

  • Everyday legal advice

    Unlimited day-to-day advice across the business. Ask as often as you need, without the call ending in an invoice.

  • NDAs & digital terms

    NDAs, website terms, platform terms, and data processing agreements.

  • Commercial contracts

    Drafting, reviewing and negotiating customer, supplier and service agreements.

  • Employment law & HR

    Contracts, policies, grievances, disciplinaries and redundancy support.

  • Shareholder & founder agreements

    Founder and shareholder agreements covering vesting, transfers and exit provisions.

  • Corporate governance

    Articles, directors' service agreements and ongoing corporate housekeeping.

  • Privacy & compliance

    Data protection documentation, compliance frameworks and breach guidance.

  • IP & trade marks

    UK trade mark searches, filings and brand protection. One filing fee included.

  • Commercial leases

    Leases up to three years, including negotiation, break clauses and renewals.

  • Dispute resolution

    Pre-action advice, letters before action and settlement negotiation.

  • Debt recovery

    Letters of demand, recovery strategy and enforcement of payment terms.

  • Proactive legal planning

    Regular legal reviews to surface risk early and align legal work with business priorities.

TESTIMONIALS

What founders say about working with us

4.8 on Google

A fresh approach. Exceptional value.

A fresh approach to legal services. They've guided us through multiple planned and reactive cases for our business. Exceptional turnaround times and great value for money.

Kerry Power Client Relations, Pantheon Property Services
COMMON QUESTIONS

What investors and accelerators ask us

Straight answers on who the solicitor acts for, what you have to manage, and how the arrangement works.

The company, always. That is exactly why the recommendation works. Founders get independent advice, the documents come out sound rather than skewed to anyone's side, and you can point companies our way without taking on the optics of supplying them a lawyer. A properly advised company serves everyone who backs it.

No. The engagement is between Lawyerly and the company. Founders contact their solicitor directly through the Client Hub, and you are never in the middle of the work, the billing or the advice.

That depends on how you want to use it. For most investors and programmes, the arrangement is a preferred rate for the companies they back, so the benefit goes to the startups. Where a different structure suits you better, we agree it together, in writing, before anything starts.

Yes. The Ready to raise package and our investment documentation work are drafted with the UK early-stage funding landscape in mind, including SEIS and EIS rounds. Where a round has scheme-specific requirements, the solicitor works to them.

It moves onto the right plan for its size, keeping the same solicitor and history. Nothing resets, and the pricing is something we work out with the company as it grows.

Yes, easily. Plenty of companies start with a single package, then move onto the subscription once they want a solicitor on hand rather than for one job. The work carries over and the same solicitor stays with them, so nothing is lost.

Your client's work is done by a named solicitor who is individually regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and bound by its Code of Conduct, and we carry professional indemnity insurance covering their work. Our solicitors are employed, not freelance, so the same person stays in place for your client.

TALK TO US

See whether it fits your portfolio

Book a call with Willem, one of our founders. We will look at the companies you back, how an introduction or a programme arrangement would work in practice, and what a preferred rate would look like for them.

Willem van der Merwe

Co-Founder

Read profile